March 2011

VALPARAISO, IN - The Iona College men's basketball team continued its success away from home this year earning a 85-77 win over Valparaiso in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament at Valpo's Athletics-Recreation Center. The Gaels (23-11) jumped out to an early eight-point advantage and never relinquished the lead while withstanding a late Crusader (23-12) charge in the win.

Prior to the contest it was announced that the winner of the contest would receive one of four second byes. The Gaels wait to hear their next opponent but will play either Monday (Mar. 20) or Tuesday (Mar. 21).

Every Toyota Prius requires more than 70lbs of rare earth metals to build. All hybrid and electric cars require the same or more rare earth metals. Many years ago America supplied approximately 98% of the rare earth metals, today China supplies 98% of the worlds rare earth metals. The problem with rare earth metals is not that they are rare but that they require enormous amounts of strip mining which destroys forests and poisons the land.
China recently threatened Japan with cutting off their supply of these rare earth metals. If the United States is tricked into the belief that hybrid cars are better for the planet because they use less fuel we will be headed for an environmental disaster much more damaging than the burning of fossile fuels.

You can clean out household waste from your garage this weekend! Come to Rye Playland this Friday, March 18 from 12pm to 4pm or Saturday, March 19 from 8am to 4pm for the Household Material Recovery Days, where residents may drop off household waste that cannot be set out for curbside collection or recycling (residential waste only, no businesses, schools, etc.)

* Remember to close all bags and bottles tightly.
* All chemicals must be in original or labeled containers.
* Place all chemicals in sturdy box and in trunk of car.

There is no fee, but pre-registration is required for 100 pounds or more of solid material or 25 gallons or more of liquid. To pre-register, call the Recycling HelpLine at (914) 813-5425.

The Mobile Shredder is also available at these events. Residents may bring up to four boxes of your household personal papers to be shredded on-the-spot at no charge.

Marianne Sussman, 71, City Council Member from District 6 and current Chairperson of the New Rochelle Industrial Development Agency, will not seek a fourth term this fall. Sussman, a Democrat came onto the New Rochelle City Council in 2000, is a partner in the law firm of Marcus, Gould & Sussman, LLP in White Plains, NY where she specializes in Estate Planning law. Sussman earned her law degree from New York University Law Schoool and under A.B. from Barnard College.

Sussman has received criticism over the past year after the New York State Comptroller issued a scathing report on the failure of the IDA to perform cost/benefit analysis of any of the real estate development projects supported by the IDA. Sussman has chaired the IDA since 2006.

There were reports yesterday of a sick seal at the New Rochelle Marina. Several readers reported seeing news helicopters hovering over that area; the seal report is why they were there. The seal was not visible to the news crews and there are some reports that the seal has left the area. None of this is official but readers who are near the water are encouraged to keep an eye out. A beer on Talk of the Sound at Dudley's St. Patrick's Day party for the first to capture the seal on camera!

The City Council of New Rochelle has passed the GreeNR resolution by a vote of 6-1 with Council Member Lou Trangucci voting against the plan out of concern of the connection between the City of New Rochelle and ICLEI. The City Manager is now directed to began taking steps to implement the plan. During the discussion prior to the vote, the Mayor agreed to remove the section on lateral lines in section 2.13. The Mayor said that anyone concerned about ICLEI also believed in black helicopters in Montana and something about the Queen of England.

Meanwhile, at the New Rochelle High School Library, hundreds of people have turned out for the Board of Education budget review meeting. After being dominated by parents of children who attend private or parochial schools outside of the district upset about the proposed elimination of yellow bus service for their children, the district has called out the troops and packed the room with union members, PTA members and other folks from "Team BoE".

Police Commissioner Patrick Carroll made an excellent presentation last week on Crimemapping.com, a service which Talk of the Sound has been recommending to the City Manager and New Rochelle Police Department since 2009. It took Mayor Noam Bramson all of 5 seconds to declare the idea of a publicly-available crime map an "anti-marketing campaign" for New Rochelle. The other Democrats on Council wasted no time echoing the sentiments of their leader with Barry Fertel expressing his "concern" that residents would require "education" to understand the map in context. The Democrats on Council made it clear that they believe that New Rochelle are stupid to read a map or understand what 12 reported assaults over two weeks on their block means. The Mayor killed the idea and sooner after the New Rochelle crime map data was taken off-line.